Even though cellulite once used to be respected because it signified that a woman was wealthy, today it is our worst nightmare. Almost 90 percent of women have cellulite these days, and it is usually a product of an unhealthy, modern lifestyle. Of course, there are many ways to fight this condition, you can actually find a lot of resources in this website http://www.cellulitecreams.org/ but some of us just want to get rid of it naturally. Here are some of the things you can do.
Table of Contents
What is cellulite?
It is also known as the orange peel syndrome, but it is in fact the herniation of subcutaneous fat that manifests as dimpling skin, usually on our legs, buttocks and sometimes arms. It is also linked to gender, because only females have it (since they store a lot more fat in their hip and leg area), and there are many causes of it.
Causes
They are mirrored in hormonal, genetic, predisposing and lifestyle factors.
Hormonal factors
One possible hormone that affects the formation of cellulite is estrogen, but there is no real evidences for this claim. Other hormones, like insulin, adrenaline, noradrenaline, etc. are also believed to participate in its development.
Genetic factors
Just like obesity, heart diseases and many other conditions, cellulite can also be heritable. The genetic components involved are polymorphisms in ACE and hypoxia-inducible factor 1A genes.
Predisposing factors
Other factors that affect cellulite are gender, race, subcutaneous fat distribution, biotype, etc.
Lifestyle factors
High stress levels, no physical activity, a bad diet, drinking lots of alcoholic beverages can all lead to cellulite formation.
The biggest cellulite myth
There are a lot of opinions about cellulite and one of them, apart from the one that you can fight it with skin-firming creams, is that it only happens to people that are out of shape. Just think about how many times you’ve seen a skinny woman with cellulite in your life? It happens even to Victoria’s Secret models. It is all about how much fat you have underneath your skin, and if you are overweight, it will just be more noticeable.
Self-testing
There are four stages of cellulite:
- Stage 0: There is no dimpling while you are standing up or lying down, and when you pinch your bottom, there is no orange-peel effect.
- Stage 1: There is no dimpling while you are standing or lying down, but when you pinch your bottom, you can see some.
- Stage 2: There is dimpling while you are standing, but not when you are lying down.
- Stage 3: There is dimpling when you are standing and lying down.
Pinch the skin on your outer thigh, buttocks or abdomen by using your index finger and your thumb and look for dimpling –that is how you do the self-pinch test
Fight it with food
Like you’ve already seen, food plays a huge role in cellulite formation. Try eating sardines and oysters, which are filled with Omega-3 acids, lemons which will lower the impact of carbohydrates on your body, chicken breast which will balance your insulin levels and provide you with protein. Protein is an extremely important substance, and if you don’t have time to cook high-protein meals every day, try protein drinks which are perfect replacements. Also, make sure you eat plenty of fresh garlic and onions, cherries, avocado and asparagus (which is a great stress fighter). Drink plenty of green tea which is filled with antioxidants, and chamomile tea which is a great stress buster.
Fight it with exercise
Just like food, exercise can also help you win this battle. Get up and hit the gym at least 3 times a week. Make sure that you do plenty of leg exercises which will make your muscles stronger and eliminate the fat layers from your legs. The best exercises to do are:
- Clockwork lunges
- Sumo squats
- Alternating abduction squats
- Abduction curtsy lunge and squat
- Squats with calf raises
- Brazilian lunges
- Hip bridges
- Swiss ball hip lifts
- Boot strappers
- Deadlifts
Cellulite massage
Save your time and your money and never do these in your life. They are allegedly supposed to break your fat cells and improve the appearance of your body, but that improvement will just be temporary and your fat cells surely won’t be broken.
As you can see, there is no easy way and no magical spell to get rid of cellulite, but perseverance and lifestyle changes will definitely help you in this battle.
